Myles Lewis-Skelly red card: Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta 'absolutely fuming' over decision to send defender off vs Wolves
Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Wolves for serious foul play on Matt Doherty; Mikel Arteta: "I'm absolutely fuming"; Riccardo Calafiori: "From the bench, it was clearly not a red card"
Sunday 26 January 2025 14:55, UK
Mikel Arteta was "absolutely fuming" over Michael Oliver's decision to send Myles Lewis-Skelly off in the first half of Arsenal's 1-0 win over Wolves.
With the first half reaching its conclusion, Lewis-Skelly caught Matt Doherty near the edge of the Wolves box and referee Oliver sent off the 18-year-old for serious foul play.
"I cannot believe Michael Oliver has sent Lewis-Skelly off there," said Sky Sports' Tim Sherwood, as VAR stuck with the on-field official's call.
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Arsenal won 1-0 thanks to Riccardo Calafiori's second-half winner - which came four minutes after Joao Gomes was dismissed for two yellow cards for a debatably even harsher challenge than Lewis-Skelly's on Jurrien Timber - but Arteta still could not hide his disappointment with the officials at full-time.
"It is that clear and I will leave it to you guys," Arteta told Sky Sports. "I am absolutely fuming. But I will leave it with you, it is that obvious that I don't think my words are going to help."
Asked if Arsenal will appeal the sending off, Arteta replied: "That's for the club to decide what is the best decision. It's that obvious that maybe we don't even need to [put in an appeal].
"He's really happy now that the team won and found a way to win it. He is very worried about what's coming next because he's strongly feeling that there was nothing to do with the action."
PGMOL: Video evidence supports decision
The PGMOL's position on the incident is the challenge is extremely late, the point of contact is high and video evidence supports that conclusion.
The refereeing body adds Oliver has been subjected to social media abuse.
Calafiori: It was never a red card, Lewis-Skelly was upset
Meanwhile, match-winner Calafiori also felt it was not a red card for Lewis-Skelly - saying the 18-year-old was upset about the call in the half-time break.
"From the bench, it was clearly not a red card. I saw him at half-time he was so disappointed for the team. But at the end, we won. So nothing happened," said Calafiori.
"He was upset, but now he's happy because we won for sure. He's a good footballer, a good guy, so we help him a lot.
"He's really happy now that the team won and found a way to win it. He is very worried about what's coming next because he's strongly feeling that there was nothing to do with the action."
Arteta admitted Lewis-Skelly was feeling better after the team had won, but hopes any appeal will result in the defender being allowed to play the next games.
"He's really happy now that the team won and found a way to win it," added Arteta. "He is very worried about what's coming next because he's strongly feeling that there was nothing to do with the action."
Arteta added in his press conference: "Hopefully we don't need to [appeal]. Allow the player to continue to do his job."
How social media reacted to Lewis-Skelly's red card
Five issues with the Lewis-Skelly red card
Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:
One - you don't see red cards for that. "He's 70 yards from his own goal," said Tim Sherwood. That is the starting point.
PGMOL classes serious foul play as "a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality".
Cynical? Yes. But it is extremely hard to make the argument that Lewis-Skelly's challenge endangered Doherty's safety, or that he used excessive force or brutality.
More common sense was needed.
Two - VAR gave it. The serious foul play call was checked and confirmed by VAR Darren England. See above for the common sense point to an official who had replays, slo-mos and time to fully assess it.
Three - Joao Gomes' challenge was arguably worse. How the Wolves midfielder got a yellow for a seemingly higher, more aggressive and more dangerous challenge and Lewis-Skelly got his marching orders is simply baffling. The consistency did not even last half a match.
Four - Michael Oliver doesn't like to "impact games negatively by overreacting" apparently. That's what PGMOL chief Howard Webb said last season when Mateo Kovacic avoided a red card for Man City at Arsenal. Did he need to send Lewis-Skelly off there?
Five - More freak dismissals for Arsenal - Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard were both sent off for kicking the ball away - but have we seen any since? Joao Pedro's penalty at Brighton despite William Saliba seemingly getting the ball. Arsenal are getting freak decisions this season and it seems to be heavily weighted against them - so it is little wonder their fans are becoming increasingly frustrated.
